Adding a sim card causes hard resets?

[Lundon44]

Can anyone explain how the removing/adding of the sim card reacts on the GN7?

I've been advised there is a security feature which causes the phone to hard reset when adding a sim card. I experienced this already on my initial set up of the phone. I spent a good 2 - 3 hrs setting it up, tossed in the sim at the end of it all only for it to reboot, then go directly into a factory reset. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. For those wondering why I inserted the sim at the end, it was so that I could continue using my old phone during this process.

So now my questions are:

How safe is it to remove the SD card being that it's directly connected to the sim holder? Will removing it cause the phone to hard reset again?

Can I safely remove the sim card or SD card while it's powered off, then re-insert before powering on without any hard reset happening?

If I need to replace my sim card for some reason, can a new one be used without forcing a hard reset?

I've experienced a few data quirks the last couple of days. 2 or 3 instances where data and service was suddenly not working. And a phone reboot was the only fix. I'm trying to monitor this to see if it's a sim card problem, phone hardware problem or a one off issue.

 

[dpham00]

It shouldn't hard reset. But I would turn the phone off just to be safe

 

[Lundon44]

Rogers (my carrier) claims the hard reset is part of a security feature since the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge when putting in a new sim card.

 

[ninja0n3]

I've just experienced the exact same issue with the Galaxy Note 7 on Rogers.

I performed all the setup without the sim card in order to be able to keep my previous phone as long as possible, once I was ready to switch, I activated the new sim, inserted it on the Note 7.

Upon restarting, the phone rebooted and went into recovery and then proceeded to delete the contents of the phone with the "Erasing Device" message.

Interestingly enough, it does offer a recover apps and data once you go through the steps of initializing the device again; this process seems to be taking an awfully long time, which leaves me without the ability to make or receive calls.

This is one of the most idiotic ideas I've ever come across in dealing with technology; if you're going to add a feature like that, make it optional and warn new users about it instead of imposing it as a hidden feature of the device.
I've had the SII, SII-LTE, S3, Note4, never before did I have this problem.

By the way, I do travel often, so I may have to change the sim again, so this is less than an ideal situation.

This has resulted in a big waste of my time.

 

[alejovh1#AC]

Tmo version here and I can remove my SIM card or sd card at any time without issues. However the phone is locked to T-Mobile so if you insert a different SIM from a different carrier, then the phone will restart.

 

[ninja0n3]

In case any one is interested, this issue has been introduced in the Note 7.
This is the transcript of the chat that I had with Samsung Canada Support explaining:

Chat InformationThank you for choosing Samsung. A representative will be with you shortly.
Chat InformationYou are now chatting with 'Veronica'. There will be a brief survey at the end of our chat to share feedback on my performance today.
Chat InformationYour Issue ID for this chat is LTK11173079609X
Veronica: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Canada support. How may I assist you today?
J.B.: Hello
J.B.: I just acquired a Galaxy Note 7 yesterday from Rogers
J.B.: performed the setup through wifi while waiting before inserting the sim card inside
J.B.: once I activated and inserted the SIM, the device deleted all the data
Veronica: I will assist you with the required information of Samsung Note 7 phone.
J.B.: I called Rogers about this and they denied any knowledge of this
Veronica: I would like to inform you that, It will be reset to Factory settings, when you insert sim on the phone.
J.B.: every time?
J.B.: so I go to another country, and change the sim card so I can get cell and it will delete all my data?
Veronica: No, it will delete the data when the sim is inserted for the first time and when you change the carrier on the phone.
J.B.: So if I put a sim card from a different carrier on the phone while I am abroad, will this reset the phone?
Veronica: Yes, you need to backup the phone before using another sim on the phone.
J.B.: Where is this documented?
Veronica: It will be in the user manual of the phone.
J.B.: I read through the provided information papers that came with the device, I did not see a mention there, could you indicate where I can find this?
Veronica: Sure thing.
Veronica: Could you please wait for a few minutes while I gather the required information for you?
J.B.: sure
Veronica: Thank you.
Veronica: Thank you for waiting.
J.B.: sure
Veronica: I have checked the information. I see that the information was not listed with the device.
Veronica: I am sorry for that. As you insert the sim on the phone it will be restored to factory defaults to get the phone locked to that carrier.
J.B.: Is the carrier informed of this process?
Veronica: No, this has been started with the Note 7 phone. As it comes with Marsh Mallow OS in it.
J.B.: I understand, so how do I deal with this then? I just lost a significant amount of data due to this process
J.B.: on top of the time I've spent doing the set up
Veronica: As the data has been deleted, we cannot retrieve it back. If you have backup the data using Smart Switch software, we can restore them back.
J.B.: So there's no way to recover the data or the time I've spend on this...
J.B.: Now, I noticed that when I originally turned on the device, there was a feature called Tap on
J.B.: which allowed me to sync the phones, this was no longer available when the device was reset
J.B.: neither did it allow me to add more than one gmail account
J.B.: which I did without problems the first time
Veronica: I can certainly understand your situation. If there was a possibility to do it I would have done it for you.
Veronica: Are we connected on the chat?
J.B.: yes, still connected, I was wondering what happened to tap on
Veronica: You can check for that option by restarting the phone.
J.B.: I did, but it was not available
J.B.: I asks me for wifi, email and then goes into the rest of the setup
Veronica: In that case, we will not be able to get the option as it has been reset.
J.B.: what do you mean?
Veronica: I will be right with you.
J.B.: sure
Veronica: As the phone has been reset the Tap on option will not be displayed.
J.B.: Ok, Thanks for the information
Veronica: You are welcome. Is there anything else I can assist you with?
J.B.: That's it, have a great evening
Veronica: It's my pleasure assisting you today!
Veronica: Thank you for chatting with Samsung Canada support.

Essentially, Samsung decided to introduce this and not tell anyone about it. The issue seems to occur when the sim card is first inserted on the phone which causes it to reset (I did my setup while on WiFi before proceeding to inserting the sim card into the phone).

According to the rep the carrier was not aware of this issue. I also called the carrier beforehand, they seemed to be surprised by it and had no extra information.

Another concern raised by the conversation is that she seemed to imply that changing carrier sims will automatically lead to a forced device reset.

 

[John Rappel]

This is an old thread, but it still came up as the first result in a Google search, so I thought I'd post a work-around for this issue here for any that encounter it. I had it happen to me while setting up a batch of Samsung J3 phones to our corporate standard, and this has saved me redoing a half-dozen phones I'd already spent 30-45 minutes on each.

1. Ensure you have set a PIN on the phone.
2. Shut it down, remove battery, insert SIM.
3. Start it up, wait till it gets to the initial lock screen. Do not enter the PIN.
4. Force the phone to shut down again..
5. Power it up again. After entering the PIN, the SIM should be detected and join the cell network, with no "security" reboot and factory wipe.

I believe the reboot code checks once the apps all load, and it's something like "check to see if a new SIM was installed on the last bootup, if so, reboot and wipe." Since you reboot the phone a 2nd time after the SIM is installed, but before it gets to check, it never triggers the wipe.

I figured this out by watching a couple phones go thru the process of wiping, and I noticed it took a few seconds after the apps loaded after startup before the message came up that the phone had an "unauthorized attempt to access" and then went thru its reboot and wipe.

I haven't tested this on any other phones than the Samsung J3, but I expect it's the same code on all phones with this "feature", and can be thus bypassed.

 

[oblus]

Hi I have also facing this problem, but I had rooted phone with twrp wich I did backup before putting sim... I also had factory reset but I restored my data with twrp then I found SamKey program and with this tool I changed CSC code to XEO wich gives me no factory reset after I put sim to phone. All my settings and apps are not touched!

 

[mustang7757]

Hi I have also facing this problem, but I had rooted phone with twrp wich I did backup before putting sim... I also had factory reset but I restored my data with twrp then I found SamKey program and with this tool I changed CSC code to XEO wich gives me no factory reset after I put sim to phone. All my settings and apps are not touched!

Hi, welcome to AC!
Probably not going get much response here as it's a old thread .

 

[B. Diddy]

Hi I have also facing this problem, but I had rooted phone with twrp wich I did backup before putting sim... I also had factory reset but I restored my data with twrp then I found SamKey program and with this tool I changed CSC code to XEO wich gives me no factory reset after I put sim to phone. All my settings and apps are not touched!

Welcome to Android Central! I assume you don't have a Note7 like the rest of the people in this thread, right?

If you rooted the phone and installed a custom ROM (or the official Samsung firmware from some different variant), then all bets are off -- there's no 100% guarantee that using anything that isn't the official firmware for your phone will be problem-free.